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Thailand to be “post pandemic” this week, not endemic

by thethaiger.com Leave a Comment

Post-pandemic or endemic?

As Covid-19 is now projected to affect only small to medium sized slices of the population going forward, the Public Health Ministry will declare Thailand to be in post-pandemic mode from this Friday, according to health permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit.

July 1 coincides with the abolition of the Thailand Pass pre-travel digital gateway for overseas visitors, along with the compulsory health insurance called at US$10,000.

“We will keep to our schedule to announce a post-pandemic era on July 1. And what we expect to see is only small or medium clusters that will not do any harm to our public health service. The disease will be under control.”

Rather than labelling Covid-19 as an endemic from July, the health ministry is prepared to declare a post-pandemic phase.

They had decided to hold off until the World Health Organisation officially declares Covid-19 to be endemic.

While Kiattiphum confirmed the arrival of the two additional Covid-19 subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, he claimed that their effects and risk of transmission had not yet been fully studied. The number of severely affected patients admitted to hospitals has not changed in Thailand whilst there had been a rise in both cases and hospitalisations in other countries.

After July, Thailand is fully open to the rest of the world (excepting the need to produce a negative PCR or ATK test in the 72 hours before travel for unvaccinated or under vaccinated travellers). There will be no Thailand Pass and no compulsory insurance required before travelling to Thailand.

But inbound travellers will be required to show their vaccination documents at immigration (and probably at their airline check-in). Entertainment venues will be also allowed to open “officially” until 2 in the morning in many locations.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Police charge 22 with wildlife trafficking at Tiger Temple

by www.abc.net.au Leave a Comment

Thai police have charged 22 people, including three Buddhist monks , with wildlife trafficking and removed more dead animals, including a bear and a leopard, from the infamous Tiger Temple, authorities say.

Key points:

  • Wildlife activists accuse the temple of illegally breeding tigers
  • The charges follow the discovery of 40 frozen tiger cubs this week
  • Repeated efforts to shut the temple have been blocked by monks

The temple in Kanchanaburi province, west of the capital Bangkok, has been a major tourist attraction for more than two decades, with visitors paying 600 baht ($23) admission to pose for photographs with the tigers.

Wildlife activists have accused the temple of illegally breeding the tigers while some visitors on online forums complained that the tigers appeared sedated.

The temple denies the accusations.

Adisorn Nuchdamrong, from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, said 22 people had been charged with wildlife possession and trafficking, including 17 members of the temple’s foundation and three monks trying to flee with a truckload of tiger skins.

It followed the grim discovery on Wednesday of the bodies of 40 tigers cubs inside a freezer.

It remains unclear why the dead tiger cubs were being stored, though tiger bones and body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

“We’ve confiscated all the hard disks of closed circuit cameras in this temple for police to find evidence of wrongdoing,” Mr Adisorn said.

The temple officially opened in 1994 close to a wild tiger habitat — it received its first tiger cub, which had been found by villagers, in 1999.

The cub died soon after but villagers kept bringing cubs to the temple, usually when the mothers had been killed by poachers, the temple said.

Repeated efforts to shut down the temple have been blocked by the monks.

Thailand is a well-known trafficking hub of illicit wildlife products, including ivory.

Thailand’s wildlife department began raiding the temple on Monday — there were 137 tigers inside the temple and 119 have been removed.

The World Wildlife Fund said in April that the number of wild tigers in the world stands at around 3,890, with more than 100 wild tigers in Thailand.

Reuters

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Emerging markets: Thai central bank says inflation will be higher than expected as Asia FX rise on respite from recession woes

by www.thestar.com.my Leave a Comment

BANGKOK, June 27 (Reuters) : Most Asian currencies and stock markets moved higher as expectations of less hawkish moves from the US Federal Reserve slightly eased fears of a global economic recession.

Downward pressure on the Philippine peso persisted, however. South Korea’s won outperformed regional peers, gaining 1.2%, while the country’s main stock index advanced 1.8%.

“Slowing growth is cheering the markets, as that suggests less tightening work for the Fed in its quest to stabilise inflation,” analysts at DBS said in a note.

After US consumer sentiment slipped to a record low in June, investors late on Friday dialled back expectations of a 75-basis-point (bps) rise in interest rates at the next Fed meeting.

The Fed has made clear the meeting will see a debate between raising interest rates by 50 bps or 75 bps. Fears of it going for the larger move have pushed asset prices lower.

The Indian rupee and Indonesian rupiah moved 0.1% and 0.3% higher respectively. However, analysts warn such gains are unlikely to last, given the underlying theme of recessionary fears and an uncertain future for global economies.

“While USD bulls may be tamed as recession fears are tempered, the case for unchecked rallies in (emerging market) Asia FX is hollow if not misguided”, said Mizuho Bank analyst Vishnu Varathan.

Meanwhile, the Philippine peso lost 0.4%, declining for the ninth consecutive trading session.

The currency lost 2.1% last week, its worst week since June 2013. Trading of the peso has skewed towards selling, as markets seem unconvinced the central bank’s pace of interest rate hikes will curtail inflation.

Gains in the Thai baht were supported by the central bank saying inflation was likely to be higher than projected and the economy might perform better than expected, pointing towards further policy tightening.

The baht rose 0.1%. In China, data showed that profits at industrial firms had shrunk at a slower pace in May as factory activity resumed after the easing of Covid-19 curbs, but profits were still lower due to continued restrictions.

The yuan wobbled but settled 0.1% higher. The Chinese central bank said on the weekend it was working on setting up a Renminbi Liquidity Arrangement with the Bank for International Settlements.

According to analysts at Maybank, this is seen as a step towards yuan internationalization. Stocks in Asia were broadly higher, with markets in Singapore, India and Thailand rising between 0.6% and 1.4%. – Reuters

Malaysia Open 2022: PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy Lead India’s Challenge | Badminton News

by sports.ndtv.com Leave a Comment

PV Sindhu will look to quickly recover from her first-round exit at Indonesia, while HS Prannoy will eye another consistent show as the duo spearhead the Indian challenge at the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament starting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, was shown the door in the opening round by China’s He Bing Jiao at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 earlier this month and she will have to put behind that defeat when she begins her campaign against a formidable Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand.

While Sindhu enjoys a 5-3 head-to-head count against Chochuwong, the Indian has lost to the Thai world number 10 three times in their last five meetings, making their clash a mouth-watering prospect.

If she can cross the opening hurdle and hit a consistent run, Sindhu might come across Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei of China.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal also stars in the same half of the draw and will open against USA’s Iris Wang. A win will put her face-to-face with Japanese sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara, a former world champion.

Saina had skipped the Indonesia leg to manage workload and will look to put up a good show against Wang, whom she had defeated in three games the only time they met last year at Orleans Masters.

In men’s singles, Prannoy has been on a consistent run with a series of quarterfinals since the world championships last year. He played a pivotal role in India’s epic Thomas Cup win and then dished out some superlative performances in Jakarta to reach the semifinals.

The 29-year-old was crestfallen after a series of unforced errors led to his ouster from Indonesia.

Prannoy, who is desperate to end his five year title drought, will be pitted against Malaysian veteran Daren Liew, who had defeated him at the Thailand Open in May this year.

Among others, Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth will be up against sixth seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Sameer Verma takes on another Indonesian Jonata Christie, seeded seventh.

Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap, also returning after recovering from an injury, will meet Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee in the opening round.

World number 8 pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also be back in action after skipping the last two events due to fitness issues. The duo will open Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee.

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In mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy, who are part of India’s Commonwealth Games squad, will take on the Netherland’s Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek.

Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan will square off against Korea’s Kim Won Ho and Jeong Na Eun.

Get the latest updates on ICC T20 Worldcup 2022 , check out the Schedule and Live Score . Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS .

Tiger temple where frozen cubs found to open new venue

by www.abc.net.au Leave a Comment

The Thai Buddhist temple where 40 frozen tiger cubs were found in a freezer last year is set to open a new tiger facility next month.

Warning: this story contains graphic images

When Thailand’s controversial Tiger Temple was raided in June last year, authorities uncovered the carcasses of 40 tiger cubs inside a freezer .

The body of a small bear, a set of deer horns and plastic bottles reportedly containing animal parts were also found, and over 100 tigers were gradually removed from the premises.

Now animal rights group World Animal Protection says Tiger Temple is planning to reopen under the name Golden Tiger (Thailand) Co Ltd.

It will reopen in March, according to the Tiger Temple website, which is already urging tourists to reserve spots.

“Only 30 persons per day,” it says.

One of the tours includes “breakfast with monks and 105 tigers”.

World Animal Protection said the monastery was constructing the new facility in Kanchanaburi, the same province as the Tiger Temple, and had been given a provisional licence by the Thai Government.

But it said the facility would not be issued a full zoo licence unless it met 11 specified conditions within six months, including enclosure size and vet care.

Thai police charged 22 people with wildlife trafficking in June last year, including three Buddhist monks, and removed more dead animals, including a bear and a leopard, from the tourist attraction.

Tiger Temple was a major tourist attraction for more than two decades, with visitors paying 600 baht ($23) admission to pose for photographs with the animals.

Wildlife activists accused the temple of illegally breeding the tigers, while some visitors on online forums complained that the tigers appeared sedated.

The temple denied the accusations.

It also said tigers had a high infant mortality rate and claimed deceased cubs were kept in jars or frozen to preserve them.

But Thailand’s Department of National Parks (DNP) said the preservation indicated the cubs must have been of value to the temple.

World Animal Protection has called for the DNP to refuse Golden Tiger Co Ltd a license and to impose a breeding ban.

“Tiger venues need to be stopped in their tracks because they clearly have links to the dark side of wildlife trafficking rings,” Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach, a senior wildlife advisor at World Animal Protection said.

Legal cases and police investigations into the Tiger Temple are ongoing.

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